(Yicai) Dec. 26 -- Shanghai will launch and operate China’s first open-source platform aimed at overseas users next year, as the city moves to better connect with global intellectual resources.

The initiative was disclosed by Qiu Wei, chief engineer of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, at a policy briefing held yesterday. The city also released a policy document outlining measures to promote the development of its local open-source ecosystem.

Part of China’s broader global technology push, the platform is designed as a hub for collaboration among overseas developers, Chinese engineers, universities, and companies, enabling global talent to contribute to and benefit from China-based projects.

According to the document, Shanghai aims over the next three to five years to establish one to two internationally influential open-source communities, incubate more than 200 high-quality open-source projects, and attract over three million developers worldwide. The goal is to initially build a comprehensive open-source ecosystem with strong technical support, a well-developed service system, a balanced talent structure, and a thriving industry.

Shanghai will continue to improve its environment for attracting global developers, including establishing positive incentive mechanisms, strengthening open-source education at universities, and building a global intellectual network to enable outstanding domestic and international talent to showcase their capabilities on the city’s open-source platform, Qiu said.

The city will also focus on cultivating leading open-source enterprises by smoothing the transformation chain from “community to project to industry,” forming a clear growth path from “dominating open-source projects to building a technological ecosystem and becoming industry leaders,” Qiu explained.

In the future, Shanghai will further enhance the overall competitiveness of its open-source platform in areas such as technical services, community culture, and commercial operations. The aim is to create a foundational open-source ecosystem with complete collaborative tools and services, allowing developers to concentrate on core innovation while continuously incubating promising projects and technologies, Qiu said.

To ensure that every stage of open-source application development is supported by corresponding toolchains, Shanghai encourages enterprises to develop open-source software tools and supports the creation of unified interfaces compatible with international standards. Development projects for foundational tools may receive funding subsidies of up to CNY20 million (USD2.9 million), Qiu noted.

Shanghai will also target key industries, including artificial intelligence, intelligent chips, high-end software, the metaverse, and next-generation internet technologies. The city will support enterprises in building specialized service platforms for collaborative open-source project development, new technology validation, deployment, and operations, Qiu added.

“Open source is by no means just a way for programmers to indulge themselves; it is the ‘infrastructure’ of the digital intelligence era. It means that companies can access cutting-edge technology support in a more cost-effective and secure manner,” Roby Chen, founder and chief executive of cloud infrastructure company DaoCloud, told Yicai.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine